Georgetown Loop Railroad Day!

   Wow! Am I pooped! What a wonderful day we had with Kristin and Mike. They took us to Silver Plume to catch the Georgetown Loop Railroad and to take a tour of a silver mine.
   We started the day out with Russ and I walking to Perkins Restaurant which was just .2 of a mile from our hotel. We had a lovely walk over there on a walking bridge to avoid the highway traffic.


Love these walking bridges.

    We could see Perkins ahead. We had a great breakfast of muffins,
fruit, and an omelet. Healthy right?  We plan to go there for breakfast tomorrow, too.


Mark will want to see this healthy meal.

    We walked back and had a lovely morning stroll by our hotel. It helped to settle our breakfast.

  We then headed to Mike and Kristin's home which was only a few minutes away. Kristin gave us a tour of the home. It is just the right size. They are working on it a little at a time.

   Mike and Kristin are runners. They have participated in many half marathons and have some medals to show for it. Mike is also a snowboarder who flies through the air and has a picture to prove it. They both are quite athletic and are committed to a healthy life style.

That is Mike flying through the air.

Great way to display

   Kristin drove us all to Silver Plume to catch the train there. We passed some pretty countryside. The mountains are so gorgeous. I am in awe how majestic they look . I forget that you can look up and see that you are surrounded by such beauty.
It was a lovely drive.

Lovely drive

 

      We reached the Railroad and Russ got the tickets. We were told to take water 'cause the high altitude could make you sick , if you get dehydrated. We brought jackets 'cause it gets cold inside the mine. We were ready. The whole experience was informative and fun. We learned a lot.

   My niece's husband, Rob, would have loved this trip 'cause he is into trains. I thought of him the whole way. Check out the pictures in this slide show:





          


 

  We got off the train at the mine site and met our guide. We were going inside the mine. Yikes!
We  put on jackets. We had to watch our feet from slipping and our heads from hitting the top of the mine. Hard work for me. I got a greater appreciation for how hard it was back then for silver miners in Colorado in the 1890's. It was tough work to drill by hand.

We were with 24 other people.

Looking good in hard hats

It was tight in some places.

Mom would have hated this tour.

  
We were tired and ready for something to eat so  we headed to Idaho Springs to a hotspot called BeauJo's.  The pizza there it amazing. We ordered the large honey wheat dough pizza. Yum. 


Good eats

 We walked the streets of Idaho Springs after eating to settle our stomachs. We came across another old, old train. We were able to look inside at how it was back then.  It made me a little sad for times lost. 

   We had a great day, but it was time to head back to the hotel and get some sleep for our next adventure at Ellitch Gardens. I don't think I am spelling it right, but I am too pooped to look it up.

Here are some more  pictures of times gone by.



The only train of this type left in existence today.

Kristin and I thought this was an interesting set up for plants. They bolted the pots to
the old painted ladder. Neat.

Okay... is this eerie or what? I think this is what made me kinda
sad when we looked in the little window in the door.